Md. schools get $10.7M grant to study STDs

The University of Maryland Schools of Dentistry and Medicine have received a $10.7 million grant over five years to study the causes, prevention and treatment of sexually-transmitted diseases.

The schools announced the grant on Tuesday from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health.

The long-term goal of the research is to develop strategies to reduce the incidence of sexually transmitted infections and diseases worldwide, particularly chlamydia and gonorrhea.

Patrik Bavoil, a professor and chair of the Department of Microbial Pathogenesis at the school of dentistry, says participants believe the project will generate new essential knowledge into the mechanisms of sexually transmitted infection and disease as they occur, both in the human host and within the microbes that cause chlamydia and gonorrhea.